"Inhumane attitudes toward these Russian citizens has emerged," the Russian Foreign Ministry posted a statement on its website.

LifeNews reporters are still being illegally detained in Ukraine, the document said.

"Russia insists on the immediate release of the Russian reporters," the statement said.

"Statements of the Ukrainian official, Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council Deputy Secretary Victoria Syumar, who worked as a freelance correspondent at Voice of America radio station and who said that Oleg Sidyakin and Marat Saichenko, who were trying to provide objective information on the events in southeastern Ukraine, are allegedly part of terrorist groups, are especially outrageous," the statement said.

"We would like to remind Ms. Syumar and the political forces, whose stance she expresses, that a fight with unwanted reporters is not the best way to convince the world and the Ukrainian community of the Kiev authorities' commitment to freedom of speech and democracy," the document said.